Tony Gollan eager to impress with eight leading chances for Sunshine Coast Cup Day

Premier Queensland trainer Tony Gollan will ‘mix things up’ in the Sunshine Coast Cup on Saturday as he looks to round out the summer carnival on a high with a host of key contenders.

Tony Gollan will send a big team to Sunshine Coast on Saturday. Picture: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

Premier Queensland racing trainer Tony Gollan is putting the final touches on his key chances ahead of this Saturday’s Sunshine Coast Cup Day.

Gollan, who once again leads the metropolitan trainers rankings this season, has recorded 73.5 victories and 97 placings from his 363 starts.

He said he was looking forward to Corbould Park’s Saturday feature to round out a successful summer carnival.

“I think it’s an important part of the schedule, I think every track deserves their metropolitan meetings,” he said.

“This day is a key piece of the Summer carnival as it brings everything to a close so I don’t mind going up there.

“It’s a lovely big track, I just hope we don’t get the rain because if we do it becomes pretty biased.”

Ef Troop will be ridden more forward in the Sunshine Coast Cup on Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

Gollan said he was looking towards a change of tactics for star gelding Ef Troop who is set to contest the Sunshine Coast Cup (1400m).

“As he’s getting a bit older he’s starting to get a little bit more fickle and he’s not loving racing in restricted room as much as he probably would’ve as a younger horse,” he said.

“I think he’s probably enjoying it when he gets a bit of room in his runs so we may mix things up a little bit on the weekend and try and ride him a lot further forward, similar to how we used to as a younger horse.

“I think that style of racing on the big circuit like that probably suits him a little bit more now as opposed to what the tighter, speed tracks do.

“He is one that wouldn’t want it overly wet on the weekend otherwise he won’t take part.”

Tony Gollan’s Golden Boom canters to victory on debut under jockey Ryan Maloney. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

After a third-place finish on Magic Millions day, Gollan said four-year-old gelding Golden Boom looked poised to strike in the Open Handicap (1000m).

“I thought his run was good the other day, he did way too much work mid race,” he said.

“They just set it up for something to swoop which was disappointing but I think he’ll be a lot better for that run under his belt.”

The Spirit Of Boom runner quickly cemented himself as a star on the rise with a dominant debut victory at this same track and distance.

Big win here, the long awaited debut of Golden Boom did not disappoint! 🚀

Time was 57.18 for the 1000m @RMaloney_Jockey sitting pretty on the @tonygollan galloper. pic.twitter.com/nQ6N0OlAqh

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) November 6, 2022

“I do wish this race was a week or so away as he’s two weeks off a break and that does worry me a touch but the horse is in good order and has only got to run up to what he did on the Gold Coast which you’d imagine he’d be improved off that.

“If he has, he’s pretty hard to beat.”

Overseas runner Aussie Nugget is also nominated to contest the Benchmark 85 (1800m).

“I scratched him last weekend because I felt from the wide barrier and where he was going to end up in the run, he wasn’t going to be able to beat Freedom Rally and that’s how it panned out,” Gollan said.

“I thought this grade and this race is pretty ideal for him, I put a tongue tie back on him as I believe he choked down last start which was really his only poor run since I’ve had him.

“His two runs back have been good and previous campaign’s he’s always been quite consistent so I think back to this grade, at the Sunshine Coast, he can handle wet or dry, has trained up really well and I think he’s a really good chance on Saturday.”